Havana Journal: Cuban Americanshttp://havanajournal.com/cuban_americans/
Cuban American newsenrob@havanajournal.comCopyright 20132013-04-05T19:30:20+00:00Cuban Studies program at Casa Bacardi - Cuba’s Past, Present, and Futurehttp://havanajournal.com/cuban_americans/entry/cuban-studies-program-at-casa-bacardi-cubas-past-present-and-future/
Certificate Program in Cuban Studies
The Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami is proud to open enrollment for the upcoming CUBAN STUDIES CERTIFICATE PROGRAM to be held from May 14 until June, 6 2013.
This high-level program is designed for professionals and others interested in Cuba and its future. Our program’s expert instructors use a multi-disciplinary approach to reflect Cuba’s past and address Cuba’s present and future issues.&nbsp; The program creates an ideal atmosphere for participants to interact, exchange ideas, and think innovatively about the challenges and opportunities awaiting Cuba.
The fee for the certificate program is $395, which includes the recommended books for the course. The main professors for the course are Jose Azel, Pedro Roig, and Jaime Suchlicki. The course will also include the participation of guest lecturers.
The Program for Spring 2013 includes eight sessions, from 6:30 – 8:30 PM at Casa Bacardi:
Course Title - Cuba’s Past, Present, and Future
Professors: Jose Azel, Pedro Roig, and Jaime Suchlicki
Tuesday, May 14 -Introduction and the Historical Background
Thursday, May 16 - The Cuban Revolution
Tuesday, May 21 - The Bay of Pigs and The Cuban Missile Crisis
Thursday, May 23 - Cuba’s Leadership and the Cuban Armed Forces
Tuesday, May 28 - Cuba’s Civil Society and the Opposition
Thursday, May 30 - Cuba’s Economy and the Cuban Diaspora
Tuesday, June 4 - Central and Eastern European Transitions
Thursday, June 6 - Transitional Challenges and Opportunities in Cuba
This 8-session course is designed to provide each student with an overview of Cuba’s contemporary history. We will also look at the various future scenarios of a Cuba under Raul Castro (succession), how long it may last, and what the future government of Cuba without a Castro could look like (possible transition). Additionally, we will examine what possible role the Cuban Diaspora could play in Cuba’s political, economic, and social development and explore governing ideas for post-Castro Cuba.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
1, Demonstrate critical analysis of contemporary Cuba and its key players
2. Anticipate what might happen in Cuba after the Castros and their contemporaries are gone.
Due to limited places, you are encouraged to register as soon as possible. Contact Ms. Jennifer Hernandez at 305-284-5386 or j.hernandez35@miami.edu for more information and to register.
Casa Bacardi is located at 1531 Brescia Ave. Coral Gables, FLCuban American Culture

Certificate Program in Cuban Studies

The Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami is proud to open enrollment for the upcoming CUBAN STUDIES CERTIFICATE PROGRAM to be held from May 14 until June, 6 2013.

This high-level program is designed for professionals and others interested in Cuba and its future. Our program’s expert instructors use a multi-disciplinary approach to reflect Cuba’s past and address Cuba’s present and future issues. The program creates an ideal atmosphere for participants to interact, exchange ideas, and think innovatively about the challenges and opportunities awaiting Cuba.

The fee for the certificate program is $395, which includes the recommended books for the course. The main professors for the course are Jose Azel, Pedro Roig, and Jaime Suchlicki. The course will also include the participation of guest lecturers.

The Program for Spring 2013 includes eight sessions, from 6:30 – 8:30 PM at Casa Bacardi: Course Title - Cuba’s Past, Present, and Future

Professors: Jose Azel, Pedro Roig, and Jaime Suchlicki

Tuesday, May 14 -Introduction and the Historical Background

Thursday, May 16 - The Cuban Revolution

Tuesday, May 21 - The Bay of Pigs and The Cuban Missile Crisis

Thursday, May 23 - Cuba’s Leadership and the Cuban Armed Forces

Tuesday, May 28 - Cuba’s Civil Society and the Opposition

Thursday, May 30 - Cuba’s Economy and the Cuban Diaspora

Tuesday, June 4 - Central and Eastern European Transitions

Thursday, June 6 - Transitional Challenges and Opportunities in Cuba

This 8-session course is designed to provide each student with an overview of Cuba’s contemporary history. We will also look at the various future scenarios of a Cuba under Raul Castro (succession), how long it may last, and what the future government of Cuba without a Castro could look like (possible transition). Additionally, we will examine what possible role the Cuban Diaspora could play in Cuba’s political, economic, and social development and explore governing ideas for post-Castro Cuba.

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

1, Demonstrate critical analysis of contemporary Cuba and its key players
2. Anticipate what might happen in Cuba after the Castros and their contemporaries are gone.

Due to limited places, you are encouraged to register as soon as possible. Contact Ms. Jennifer Hernandez at 305-284-5386 or j.hernandez35@miami.edu for more information and to register.

]]>2013-04-05T19:30:20+00:00Briefing on Cuban American attitude towards US Cuba relations in Washington DChttp://havanajournal.com/cuban_americans/entry/briefing-on-cuban-american-attitude-towards-us-cuba-relations-in-washington/
The Center for International Policy and The Latin America Working Group Education Fund invite you to a briefing on Wednesday, March 20 from 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
The New Miami-Cuba Dynamic: Is It a Game Changer?
The Speaker’s Room (H-122), U.S. Capitol Building, located on the House side through the South Door
In November, Florida’s Cuban-American community gave President Obama 48 percent of their vote, a significant increase from 2008. They also elected Joe Garcia, a Cuban-American Democrat, and the first ever from the Miami area. Cuban Americans favoring dialogue with the island now stand close to 60 percent; every new poll shows an upward trend. And Cuba, with its recently liberalized travel policy, is moving ahead with its commitment to reform. Today, Miami Cubans and their relatives in Cuba interact more freely, forming durable ties and enterprises.
This briefing by Cuban Americans from south Florida will update you on the new Miami-Havana reality—and why the U.S. and Cuban governments must seize the moment to start talking about solving their myriad bilateral disagreements.
Topics for Cuba discussion
Miami’s fast-changing dynamic
The case for engagement now
How travel alters the picture
The power of culture
Participants at Cuba briefing
Tessie Aral, President, ABC Charters
Annie Betancourt, former member, Florida House of Representatives
Elizabeth Cerejido, Miami arts curator
Arturo Lopez-Levy, co-founder, CAFÉ (Cuban Americans for Engagement)
Silvia Wilhelm, President, CubaPuentes, Inc.
Welcome by Wayne Smith, Director, Cuba Project, Center for International Policy
Questions? Please contact Emily Chow, Latin America Working Group, echow@lawg.org or by phone at 202.546.7010Cuban American PoliticsThe Center for International Policy and The Latin America Working Group Education Fund invite you to a briefing on Wednesday, March 20 from 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

The New Miami-Cuba Dynamic: Is It a Game Changer?

The Speaker’s Room (H-122), U.S. Capitol Building, located on the House side through the South Door

In November, Florida’s Cuban-American community gave President Obama 48 percent of their vote, a significant increase from 2008. They also elected Joe Garcia, a Cuban-American Democrat, and the first ever from the Miami area. Cuban Americans favoring dialogue with the island now stand close to 60 percent; every new poll shows an upward trend. And Cuba, with its recently liberalized travel policy, is moving ahead with its commitment to reform. Today, Miami Cubans and their relatives in Cuba interact more freely, forming durable ties and enterprises.

This briefing by Cuban Americans from south Florida will update you on the new Miami-Havana reality—and why the U.S. and Cuban governments must seize the moment to start talking about solving their myriad bilateral disagreements.

Topics for Cuba discussion

Miami’s fast-changing dynamic
The case for engagement now
How travel alters the picture
The power of culture

]]>2013-03-13T16:26:37+00:00Cuban passport application and renewal information with links to formshttp://havanajournal.com/cuban_americans/entry/cuban-passport-application-and-renewal-information-with-links-to-forms/
Rob Sequin | Havana Journal
Way back in 2005 I posted an article about Cuban birth certificates because so many people were sending emails to the Havana Journal asking for information about how to get their Cuban birth certificate.
Shortly after that, we set up our Cuban document retrieval service and have been fortunate to have successfully retrieved Cuban birth, death, marriage certificates, school records, police records and more for hundreds of customers.
Unfortunately, one document that we have not been able to help people obtain is their Cuban passport.
We get three to eight requests a week regarding applications for new Cuban passports and renewals of expired passports. I have engaged with several companies who said they could help people but their service has not been satisfactory.
Some Cuban passport information requests
My name is {edit} and I would like to know some information on how to get my Cuban passport and also what my parents need to do to get the extended passport and habilitacion, do we need to pay a 20.00 dollars for each process or is it good for the processing of all applications?.
I would like to know more information in regards to obtaining a Cuban passport. Are there any online applications or forms that can be sent via-online. My grandparents and my mother would like to apply for their Cuban passports. They would like to go to Cuba sometime this year. Please let me know of all the necessary procedures.
Hi, my name is {edit}, I have been living in this country for almost 33 year and I’m a resident, I was born in Cuba so my passport was left there when I came to this country in 1980, I been wanting to get my Cuban passport for too long, I have my birth certificated from Cuba, what else do I need to do to get my passport, thank you for your help and i will be waiting for your answer.
I was wondering where can i find the Cuban passport application? I was born in Cuba but never issued an Cuban passport. So I would need the application for it, thanks a lot.
I have tried to find out information online about the new rules for Cuban children passport renewal and I have not found anything about what people said on the street here in Miami. they said that after January 14/2013 with new Cuban migration regulations to renew the Cuban minor passport, the parents need to send an authorization signed application by both parent to do a minor passport, notarized and a fee of $140.00. I was trying to find out something in consular services and there is not anything updated, Please could you clarify this to me? and if it is, where can I get the authorization form to send along with application? Can you send me a copy if you have one?
I found your website while trying to help my husband renew his Cuban passport. I cannot find the form he needs to complete.&nbsp; Can you help?&nbsp; Thanks so much.
I sent my passport application to the Cuban Interests Section in Washington DC with a money order and everything but forgot the envelope with my address written and return postage-prepaid. What can I do? What will happen to my passport?
END
While the Cuban Interests Section does Cuban birth certificate retrieval and passport services, no one answers the phone or email there. So, I decided to write this article and post information to help people understand the Cuban passport application process.
Marazul Cuban passport application forms
People constantly ask us for links to passport application and renewal forms. I’m happy to say I have found some thanks to the good people at Marazaul travel agency.
This company offers consular services as well but here are the links to the forms:
Solicitud de Passaporte Cubano or Cuban Passport Application
Solicitud de Habilitacion de Passaporte Cubano
Applications must be done in person
Just as Americans apply for US passports in the US, Cuban passports need to be applied for in person at an agency that understands the process and one that has a working relationship with the Cuban Interests Section. Since we have enjoyed our working relationship with Caribe Express in Hialeah, I strongly recommend contacting their office for more information about their passport application process.
419 West 49th St.
Hialeah, FL 33012
(305) 231 8600
Caribe Express locations in Miami
149 SW 57th Ave
Miami, FL 33144
(305) 262-5357
1665 SW 67th Ave
Miami, FL 33155
(305) 262-8825
2414 SW 137th Ave
Miami, FL 33175
(305) 222-9057
Caribe Express locations in New Jersey
6710 Bergenline Ave.
Guttenberg, NJ 07093
(201) 869-7989
626 Elizabeth Ave.
Elizabeth, NJ 07206
(908) 282-2096
Marazul locations in Miami
8324 SW 40 St.
Miami, FL. 33155
(305) 559-3616
5358 W 16 Ave.
Hialeah, FL. 33012
(305) 828-8950
771 NW 37 Ave.
Miami, FL. 33125
(305) 644-0255
Marazul locations in New Jersey
1 Marine Plaza, Suite 302
North Bergen NJ 07047
(201) 319-1054
4100 Park Avenue
Tower Plaza Mall
Weehawken, NJ 07086
Tel: (201) 319-3900
If anyone would like to add more information or is willing to help people with passport applications and renewals, please post in the comments box below.Cuban American TravelRob Sequin | Havana Journal

Way back in 2005 I posted an article about Cuban birth certificates because so many people were sending emails to the Havana Journal asking for information about how to get their Cuban birth certificate.

Shortly after that, we set up our Cuban document retrieval service and have been fortunate to have successfully retrieved Cuban birth, death, marriage certificates, school records, police records and more for hundreds of customers.

Unfortunately, one document that we have not been able to help people obtain is their Cuban passport.

We get three to eight requests a week regarding applications for new Cuban passports and renewals of expired passports. I have engaged with several companies who said they could help people but their service has not been satisfactory.

Some Cuban passport information requests

My name is {edit} and I would like to know some information on how to get my Cuban passport and also what my parents need to do to get the extended passport and habilitacion, do we need to pay a 20.00 dollars for each process or is it good for the processing of all applications?.

I would like to know more information in regards to obtaining a Cuban passport. Are there any online applications or forms that can be sent via-online. My grandparents and my mother would like to apply for their Cuban passports. They would like to go to Cuba sometime this year. Please let me know of all the necessary procedures.

Hi, my name is {edit}, I have been living in this country for almost 33 year and I’m a resident, I was born in Cuba so my passport was left there when I came to this country in 1980, I been wanting to get my Cuban passport for too long, I have my birth certificated from Cuba, what else do I need to do to get my passport, thank you for your help and i will be waiting for your answer.

I was wondering where can i find the Cuban passport application? I was born in Cuba but never issued an Cuban passport. So I would need the application for it, thanks a lot.

I have tried to find out information online about the new rules for Cuban children passport renewal and I have not found anything about what people said on the street here in Miami. they said that after January 14/2013 with new Cuban migration regulations to renew the Cuban minor passport, the parents need to send an authorization signed application by both parent to do a minor passport, notarized and a fee of $140.00. I was trying to find out something in consular services and there is not anything updated, Please could you clarify this to me? and if it is, where can I get the authorization form to send along with application? Can you send me a copy if you have one?

I found your website while trying to help my husband renew his Cuban passport. I cannot find the form he needs to complete. Can you help? Thanks so much.

I sent my passport application to the Cuban Interests Section in Washington DC with a money order and everything but forgot the envelope with my address written and return postage-prepaid. What can I do? What will happen to my passport?

END

While the Cuban Interests Section does Cuban birth certificate retrieval and passport services, no one answers the phone or email there. So, I decided to write this article and post information to help people understand the Cuban passport application process.

Marazul Cuban passport application forms

People constantly ask us for links to passport application and renewal forms. I’m happy to say I have found some thanks to the good people at Marazaul travel agency.

Just as Americans apply for US passports in the US, Cuban passports need to be applied for in person at an agency that understands the process and one that has a working relationship with the Cuban Interests Section. Since we have enjoyed our working relationship with Caribe Express in Hialeah, I strongly recommend contacting their office for more information about their passport application process.

If anyone would like to add more information or is willing to help people with passport applications and renewals, please post in the comments box below.

]]>2013-02-24T18:59:16+00:00Watch out for fake Cuban birth certificates and how to get real oneshttp://havanajournal.com/cuban_americans/entry/watch-out-for-fake-cuban-birth-certificates-and-how-to-get-real-ones/
Original title of the article below is “Scammers to be sentenced for selling fake Cuban birth certificates to people seeking U.S. residency” by Alfonso Chardy of El Nuevo Herald.
Our sister site CubaCityHall.com is a Cuban birth certificate and document retrieval service that has been legitimately getting Cuban birth certificates for Cuban Americans for several years now. Just for the record, we are not in any way involved with any of the people mentioned in this article, have NEVER been investigated or even questioned by ANY federal, state or local authority and we have an A+ rating by the Massachusetts Better Business Bureau and have never even had one complaint there. All services provided by Cuba City Hall is legal and in compliance sanctions against Cuba and with all US laws.
Fake Cuban birth certificate article
U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga is expected Friday to sentence members of a network who sold false Cuban birth certificates to undocumented immigrants so they could pretend to be Cubans and obtain green cards.
Thanks to the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, Cubans who arrive in the United States without a visa can remain in the country and apply for residence after a year and one day. This immigration benefit is available only to people who can prove they are Cuban citizens.
The case in Miami federal court exposed the first public details of what has become an increasingly common practice in South Florida.
Miami immigration attorney Wilfredo Allen said he has represented more than a half-dozen clients in the past few years who have been accused by immigration authorities of carrying residence cards obtained illegally with false Cuban documents.
Allen said immigration authorities have developed sophisticated methods to discover the fraud related to the Cuban Adjustment Act, and can verify, if they have any suspicion, whether the applicant is presenting an authentic Cuban document.
The network, consisting of four members, three from Naples and one from Kissimmee, was dismantled in September, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested and charged them with conspiring to commit immigration fraud.
All initially pleaded not guilty, but changed their minds and their pleas. Since then, Judge Altonaga has sentenced one of them to six months in prison and two years of parole, including nine months of house arrest.
Two more are scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.
The accused are Nelson Daniel Silvestri Soutto, Laura María Ponce Santos and Amelia Osorio of Naples, and Fidel Morejón Vega of Kissimmee.
People familiar with the case said Morejón and Osorio are Cubans and Silvestri and Ponce are Uruguayans. Their clients were of various nationalities, including Argentineans, Colombians, Costa Ricans, Mexicans, Peruvians, Salvadorans and Venezuelans.
None of the defense attorneys or immigration authorities would comment Wednesday.
Documents available in court pointed to Morejón as the presumptive leader of the group.
He was charged with selling Cuban birth certificate at prices ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 each while posing as a high-ranking immigration official when meeting with potential clients. One was an undercover agent who posed as a Mexican. (Cuba City Hall provides legalized Cuban birth certificates and other documents for $500 each.)
For 3 ½ years, beginning in 2009, at least 50 undocumented immigrants bought false birth certificates, according to court documents. Some of them became residents, including some of the accused who then acted as recruiters for Morejón, the court documents state.
The scam netted more than half a million dollars, according to a memorandum in the case.
Other court documents indicate that Morejón may have obtained the birth certificates in Cuba. They don’t specify whether Morejón obtained the certificates at a Cuban government office or received them from a corrupt official who printed them himself.
One of the network’s clients, identified in court records only as J.R., cooperated with investigators and introduced Morejón to an undercover agent who wanted to buy a Cuban birth certificate.
The court documents include transcripts of some of the conversations between Morejón, J.R. and the undercover agent, identified as Rolando.
In one of the transcripts, Morejón said that for the fraud to be successful, Rolando and J.R. would be taken to the Florida Keys and left there as newly arrived rafters. Morejón told them that when the immigration officials picked them up they had to say they were Cubans and know the details of their birth certificates by heart.
In the conversation taped surreptitiously, Morejón advised them on how to respond to questions, but J.R. stumbled when he tried to remember where he was born in Cuba.
“So, if they ask you, ‘Where were you born?’ at that moment you have the birth certificate. ‘Where were you born?’ asks Morejón in the transcription.
“I was born in Havana . . . no, in Guinness, Guinness, Cuba,” responds J.R, referring to the city of Güines, 25 miles southeast of Havana.
Morejón also advised J.R. not to talk too much while in the custody of immigration authorities before being paroled, apparently to avoid detection of their non-Cuban accents or saying things that a Cuban could not say or know.
“You’re going to be at a place where there would be seven or eight people,” Morejón tells J.R., according to the transcript. “ ‘Hey, how did you get here?’ ‘In a raft.’ ‘Are you Cuban?’ ‘Yes.’ That’s all. That’s all. You don’t have to say more or make much conversation.”Cuban AmericansOriginal title of the article below is “Scammers to be sentenced for selling fake Cuban birth certificates to people seeking U.S. residency” by Alfonso Chardy of El Nuevo Herald.

Our sister site CubaCityHall.com is a Cuban birth certificate and document retrieval service that has been legitimately getting Cuban birth certificates for Cuban Americans for several years now. Just for the record, we are not in any way involved with any of the people mentioned in this article, have NEVER been investigated or even questioned by ANY federal, state or local authority and we have an A+ rating by the Massachusetts Better Business Bureau and have never even had one complaint there. All services provided by Cuba City Hall is legal and in compliance sanctions against Cuba and with all US laws.

Fake Cuban birth certificate article

U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga is expected Friday to sentence members of a network who sold false Cuban birth certificates to undocumented immigrants so they could pretend to be Cubans and obtain green cards.

Thanks to the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, Cubans who arrive in the United States without a visa can remain in the country and apply for residence after a year and one day. This immigration benefit is available only to people who can prove they are Cuban citizens.

The case in Miami federal court exposed the first public details of what has become an increasingly common practice in South Florida.

Miami immigration attorney Wilfredo Allen said he has represented more than a half-dozen clients in the past few years who have been accused by immigration authorities of carrying residence cards obtained illegally with false Cuban documents.

Allen said immigration authorities have developed sophisticated methods to discover the fraud related to the Cuban Adjustment Act, and can verify, if they have any suspicion, whether the applicant is presenting an authentic Cuban document.

The network, consisting of four members, three from Naples and one from Kissimmee, was dismantled in September, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested and charged them with conspiring to commit immigration fraud.

All initially pleaded not guilty, but changed their minds and their pleas. Since then, Judge Altonaga has sentenced one of them to six months in prison and two years of parole, including nine months of house arrest.

People familiar with the case said Morejón and Osorio are Cubans and Silvestri and Ponce are Uruguayans. Their clients were of various nationalities, including Argentineans, Colombians, Costa Ricans, Mexicans, Peruvians, Salvadorans and Venezuelans.

None of the defense attorneys or immigration authorities would comment Wednesday.

Documents available in court pointed to Morejón as the presumptive leader of the group.

He was charged with selling Cuban birth certificate at prices ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 each while posing as a high-ranking immigration official when meeting with potential clients. One was an undercover agent who posed as a Mexican. (Cuba City Hall provides legalized Cuban birth certificates and other documents for $500 each.)

For 3 ½ years, beginning in 2009, at least 50 undocumented immigrants bought false birth certificates, according to court documents. Some of them became residents, including some of the accused who then acted as recruiters for Morejón, the court documents state.

The scam netted more than half a million dollars, according to a memorandum in the case.

Other court documents indicate that Morejón may have obtained the birth certificates in Cuba. They don’t specify whether Morejón obtained the certificates at a Cuban government office or received them from a corrupt official who printed them himself.

One of the network’s clients, identified in court records only as J.R., cooperated with investigators and introduced Morejón to an undercover agent who wanted to buy a Cuban birth certificate.

The court documents include transcripts of some of the conversations between Morejón, J.R. and the undercover agent, identified as Rolando.

In one of the transcripts, Morejón said that for the fraud to be successful, Rolando and J.R. would be taken to the Florida Keys and left there as newly arrived rafters. Morejón told them that when the immigration officials picked them up they had to say they were Cubans and know the details of their birth certificates by heart.

In the conversation taped surreptitiously, Morejón advised them on how to respond to questions, but J.R. stumbled when he tried to remember where he was born in Cuba.

“So, if they ask you, ‘Where were you born?’ at that moment you have the birth certificate. ‘Where were you born?’ asks Morejón in the transcription.

“I was born in Havana . . . no, in Guinness, Guinness, Cuba,” responds J.R, referring to the city of Güines, 25 miles southeast of Havana.

Morejón also advised J.R. not to talk too much while in the custody of immigration authorities before being paroled, apparently to avoid detection of their non-Cuban accents or saying things that a Cuban could not say or know.

“You’re going to be at a place where there would be seven or eight people,” Morejón tells J.R., according to the transcript. “ ‘Hey, how did you get here?’ ‘In a raft.’ ‘Are you Cuban?’ ‘Yes.’ That’s all. That’s all. You don’t have to say more or make much conversation.”

]]>2013-01-17T14:05:41+00:00Center for International Policy reports on Cuban Americans and US Cuba policyhttp://havanajournal.com/cuban_americans/entry/center-for-international-policy-reports-on-cuban-americans-and-us-cuba-poli/
The Center for International Policy’s Cuba Project has released its latest conference report titled Election 2012: What Cuban Americans Stand to Lose.
On October 4, Elizabeth Newhouse and Wayne Smith, of CIP’s Cuba Project, hosted a conference in Miami to help raise awareness of what was at stake for Cuban Americans in the 2012 Presidental election. After the votes were cast, it was clear that the majority of Cuban Americans in Florida sent a strong message when they voted in favor of President Barack Obama, providing him with 53% of Florida’s Cuban-American vote on Election Day.
Under President Obama’s first term, US - Cuba relations saw vast improvements as Obama allowed for unlimited family visits and remittances for Cuban Americans, and “purposeful” travel for others. These policies opened up a cultural exchange not seen since before the Cold War, and as one panelist put it, “Although the last wall of the Cold War has not come down, culture is making holes in it little by little.”
Now that Obama has a second term in office, “three more years of his travel and remittance policies will ‘change the whole ball game’ in Cuba.” According to Wayne Smith, although Obama was forced to move cautiously on Cuba during his first term, we can expect to see him move more energetically toward a policy of reconciliation with his reelection.
Election 2012: What Cuban Americans Stand to Lose
A Conference Report by Elizabeth Newhouse October 2012 by the Center for International PolicyCuban American PoliticsThe Center for International Policy’s Cuba Project has released its latest conference report titled Election 2012: What Cuban Americans Stand to Lose.

On October 4, Elizabeth Newhouse and Wayne Smith, of CIP’s Cuba Project, hosted a conference in Miami to help raise awareness of what was at stake for Cuban Americans in the 2012 Presidental election. After the votes were cast, it was clear that the majority of Cuban Americans in Florida sent a strong message when they voted in favor of President Barack Obama, providing him with 53% of Florida’s Cuban-American vote on Election Day.

Under President Obama’s first term, US - Cuba relations saw vast improvements as Obama allowed for unlimited family visits and remittances for Cuban Americans, and “purposeful” travel for others. These policies opened up a cultural exchange not seen since before the Cold War, and as one panelist put it, “Although the last wall of the Cold War has not come down, culture is making holes in it little by little.”

Now that Obama has a second term in office, “three more years of his travel and remittance policies will ‘change the whole ball game’ in Cuba.” According to Wayne Smith, although Obama was forced to move cautiously on Cuba during his first term, we can expect to see him move more energetically toward a policy of reconciliation with his reelection.

The next four years could initiate an approach to U.S. Cuba policy that is either “virtuous” or “vicious” depending on who is elected president, said panelist Arturo Lopez-Levy at the October 4 conference in Miami, hosted by the Center for International Policy, on the importance of voting to engagement with Cuba. Held at the historic Tower Theater in the heart of Little Havana—a first for such an event—the conference highlighted for Cuban Americans how much is likely to be lost if President Obama’s policies on Cuba—unlimited family visits and remittances for Cuban Americans, “purposeful” travel for others—are supplanted by those of a Romney administration.

Governor Romney has promised that if elected he would revert to the George W. Bush rules: Cuban-American family visits only once every three years, very limited remittances, and the end of people-to-people travel. A return to such a stringent policy would bring back the question for Cuban Americans of “did you want to go see them before they died, or did you want to go to their funeral?” said panelist Tessie Aral, president of ABC Travel.

A “virtuous” Cuba policy, explained Lopez-Levy, would not only preserve and expand such engagement, but it would also help create conditions for greater openness inside Cuba. A “vicious” policy that goes back to the Bush era, on the other hand, would further isolate the country and hinder reform. Lawyer Tony Zamora, another panelist, believes that three more years of Obama’s travel and remittance policies will “change the whole ball game” in Cuba.

The power of culture to help change the ball game was stressed by Professor Lillian Manzor of the University of Miami—and the opportunities for cultural exchanges could also be in jeopardy if travel is curtailed. In the words of a Miami Herald op-ed, “the arts will be the hammer that deals the fatal blow to the political dilemma.” A 10-day Miami arts festival in 2001 brought over a delegation of 29 Cuban artists, sparking “a sense of a future for Miami.” Since then—and especially in the last four years— Cuban artists, musicians, and other cultural figures have continued to visit, proving that dialogue on both the artistic and human levels is eminently possible. “Although the last wall of the Cold War has not come down, culture is making holes in it little by little,” Manzor said.

Encouraging young and moderate Cuban Americans to become active in the U.S. political system is another way to promote reconciliation, asserted Alejandro Barreras, like Lopez-Levy a director and founder of CAFÉ (Cuban Americans for Engagement), a new grass-roots organization forming across the United States. In his visits to the U.S. Congress, Barreras noted, he is repeatedly told “we never hear from Cuban Americans on your side, but we hear often from the other side.” If President Obama is reelected, a major CAFÉ goal will be to promote rapprochement with Cuba as a highly desirable legacy, said Barreras.

Polls organized by Guillermo Grenier of Florida International University highlight the role of Cubans in the Florida election. Fully 35% of Miamians are Cuban; 31% a range of other Hispanic nationalities; 15% Anglo; and 17% black. “Right now the way Cubans move is the way everyone moves,” Grenier said. But the Cuban population is rapidly changing. More than a third of the current population has arrived since 1994, with more Cubans coming in the years 2000-2009 than in any other decade in history. It is these young and newly arrived Cubans who must be brought into the political process. Their sheer numbers alone have softened the Miami line. Whereas in 2000 support for dialogue with Cuba was at 46%, it is now 58%. Quite simply, if you came from Cuba after 1994, you favor dialogue. The challenge is to get that group to acquire U.S. citizenship (only 60% are citizens) and to register to vote (only 35% do).

The importance of the ballot box to bringing about change was echoed by Alvaro Fernandez, community activist and creator of the Latino Vote Project. To effectively promote their cause, he said, moderate Cuban Americans must not only vote, but learn to work in coalitions with each other and with others in the community and to expand their networks. There is a game changer underway that could have a significant effect on Florida’s vote: Puerto Ricans in central Florida will soon supplant Cuban Americans as the state’s largest Hispanic voting bloc. Whereas 56% of Cuban Americans are registered Republicans, the vast majority of other Hispanics vote Democratic.

The Center for International Policy wishes to express its appreciation to the Christopher Reynolds Foundation, Gulfstream Air Charters and our supporters for their generous support, without which neither the conference nor this report would have been possible.

]]>2012-11-12T14:51:13+00:00Summary of Cuban American sentiment and votes for Obamahttp://havanajournal.com/cuban_americans/entry/summary-of-cuban-american-sentiment-and-votes-for-obama/
Publisher: This is a great summary of the current status of Cuban American thoughts about Cuba and the future of US Cuba relations written by Geoff Thale of the Washington Office on Latin America or WOLA. I copied and pasted the text of the article below but you may want to visit the original article at the Christian Science Monitor in order to appreciate all the links out from the article.
Cuban Americans voted for Obama in record numbers, signifying a shift in this constituency’s views on US policies in Cuba.
In Florida’s Cuban-American community, change is in the air. There have been signs of this change for several years. As we have pointed out in the past, recent polling shows shifting Cuban-American views on US Cuba policy, especially among recent arrivals and young Cuban Americans. Tuesday night, the changing opinions and changing demographics of the Cuban-American community made themselves heard at the polls.&nbsp;
Advocates of change in US policy toward Cuba have long argued that the community is shifting: Newer immigrants and younger Cuban-American voters are less committed to continuing the US embargo of Cuba, and US policy toward Cuba is less of a priority issue for them than it was for the previous generation.
Defenders of hardline policies toward Cuba have always responded that Cuban-American voting gives the lie to this argument (see the post-election commentary by Capitol Hill Cubans, here). They point to the continuing support for hardline positions in Congress and in the Florida legislature, and they emphasize the modest support for presidential candidates who have more pro-engagement positions. “Where’s the beef?” has been their essential response.
In Tuesday’s election results in Florida, we can see exactly where it is.
As Anya Landau French pointed out ... in The Havana Note, and Phil Peters in the Cuban Triangle, Cuban Americans voted for Obama in record numbers. Recent reports suggest that Obama secured 48 percent of the Cuban-American vote, edged out only slightly by Romney. Obama, who liberalized people-to-people travel, dropped the Bush administration’s hostile rhetoric toward Cuba, and allowed Cuban-American families to visit Cuba as much as they want and send as much money to Cuba as they want, increased his percentage of the Cuban-American vote by ten points. The size of the shift is especially significant: Until this year, Bill Clinton’s 1996 campaign had held the position as most successful Democratic campaign ever in garnering Cuban-American votes.&nbsp; On Tuesday, Obama surpassed Clinton’s numbers.
Also, on Tuesday night, the hardline bloc’s historical dominance of Cuban-American politics was finally broken: Rep. David Rivera was defeated by moderate Cuban-American Joe Garcia. Rivera introduced several pieces of harsh anti-Cuba legislation, including an amendment to turn back travel regulations to the George W. Bush era. After a bizarre election scandal, in which Rivera allegedly funneled thousands of dollars in cash to support a previously unknown primary challenger, Garcia defeated Rivera by ten points.
And, as William Vidal noted in On Two Shores, Democratic candidate for Florida State Legislature Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Cuban American who supports Obama’s liberalization of travel to Cuba, defeated the hardline incumbent Alex Diaz de Portilla in the district that includes little Havana.
Will these changes affect US policy?
In a second term, the Obama administration will almost certainly defend its family travel, religious, and student travel rules. Obama’s strong showing in the Cuban-American community is convincing evidence that the family travel policy is politically advantageous. It is not clear if they are ready to go much further.
If the administration decided to respond to changing political realities in South Florida, what could it do?
Potential areas for change include:
Taking Cuba off the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (particularly since Cuba plays a visible role in encouraging the FARC in Colombia to participate in peace talks with the government and cooperates with the United States on drug interdiction).
Opening discussions with the Cuban government on a range of issues, including, but not limited to, the release of Alan Gross.
Relaxing the rules for non-tourist travel to Cuba.
Increasing cooperation on issues of mutual interest, including preparations for oil spill response, search and rescue, and drug interdiction efforts.
Relaxing Office of Foreign Asset Control enforcement of business dealings between Cuba and third countries.
There will be pressure from the remaining hardline Cuban-American members of Congress and their allies not to move US Cuba policy into the 21st century. There are still plenty of hardliners who are bent on doing everything they can to turn back the clock on US-Cuba relations. There is still plenty of passionate opposition to the Castro brothers and to Cuba’s Communist government. But the Cuban-American community is changing. The writing is on the wall.
– Geoff Thale is WOLA’s Program Director. Mr. Thale has studied Cuba issues since the mid-1990s and traveled to Cuba more than a dozen times, including organizing delegations of academics and members of Congress.Cuban American PoliticsPublisher: This is a great summary of the current status of Cuban American thoughts about Cuba and the future of US Cuba relations written by Geoff Thale of the Washington Office on Latin America or WOLA. I copied and pasted the text of the article below but you may want to visit the original article at the Christian Science Monitor in order to appreciate all the links out from the article.

Cuban Americans voted for Obama in record numbers, signifying a shift in this constituency’s views on US policies in Cuba.

In Florida’s Cuban-American community, change is in the air. There have been signs of this change for several years. As we have pointed out in the past, recent polling shows shifting Cuban-American views on US Cuba policy, especially among recent arrivals and young Cuban Americans. Tuesday night, the changing opinions and changing demographics of the Cuban-American community made themselves heard at the polls.

Advocates of change in US policy toward Cuba have long argued that the community is shifting: Newer immigrants and younger Cuban-American voters are less committed to continuing the US embargo of Cuba, and US policy toward Cuba is less of a priority issue for them than it was for the previous generation.

Defenders of hardline policies toward Cuba have always responded that Cuban-American voting gives the lie to this argument (see the post-election commentary by Capitol Hill Cubans, here). They point to the continuing support for hardline positions in Congress and in the Florida legislature, and they emphasize the modest support for presidential candidates who have more pro-engagement positions. “Where’s the beef?” has been their essential response.

In Tuesday’s election results in Florida, we can see exactly where it is.

As Anya Landau French pointed out ... in The Havana Note, and Phil Peters in the Cuban Triangle, Cuban Americans voted for Obama in record numbers. Recent reports suggest that Obama secured 48 percent of the Cuban-American vote, edged out only slightly by Romney. Obama, who liberalized people-to-people travel, dropped the Bush administration’s hostile rhetoric toward Cuba, and allowed Cuban-American families to visit Cuba as much as they want and send as much money to Cuba as they want, increased his percentage of the Cuban-American vote by ten points. The size of the shift is especially significant: Until this year, Bill Clinton’s 1996 campaign had held the position as most successful Democratic campaign ever in garnering Cuban-American votes. On Tuesday, Obama surpassed Clinton’s numbers.

Also, on Tuesday night, the hardline bloc’s historical dominance of Cuban-American politics was finally broken: Rep. David Rivera was defeated by moderate Cuban-American Joe Garcia. Rivera introduced several pieces of harsh anti-Cuba legislation, including an amendment to turn back travel regulations to the George W. Bush era. After a bizarre election scandal, in which Rivera allegedly funneled thousands of dollars in cash to support a previously unknown primary challenger, Garcia defeated Rivera by ten points.

And, as William Vidal noted in On Two Shores, Democratic candidate for Florida State Legislature Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Cuban American who supports Obama’s liberalization of travel to Cuba, defeated the hardline incumbent Alex Diaz de Portilla in the district that includes little Havana.

Will these changes affect US policy?

In a second term, the Obama administration will almost certainly defend its family travel, religious, and student travel rules. Obama’s strong showing in the Cuban-American community is convincing evidence that the family travel policy is politically advantageous. It is not clear if they are ready to go much further.

If the administration decided to respond to changing political realities in South Florida, what could it do?

Potential areas for change include:

Taking Cuba off the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (particularly since Cuba plays a visible role in encouraging the FARC in Colombia to participate in peace talks with the government and cooperates with the United States on drug interdiction).

Opening discussions with the Cuban government on a range of issues, including, but not limited to, the release of Alan Gross.

Relaxing the rules for non-tourist travel to Cuba.

Increasing cooperation on issues of mutual interest, including preparations for oil spill response, search and rescue, and drug interdiction efforts.

Relaxing Office of Foreign Asset Control enforcement of business dealings between Cuba and third countries.

There will be pressure from the remaining hardline Cuban-American members of Congress and their allies not to move US Cuba policy into the 21st century. There are still plenty of hardliners who are bent on doing everything they can to turn back the clock on US-Cuba relations. There is still plenty of passionate opposition to the Castro brothers and to Cuba’s Communist government. But the Cuban-American community is changing. The writing is on the wall.

– Geoff Thale is WOLA’s Program Director. Mr. Thale has studied Cuba issues since the mid-1990s and traveled to Cuba more than a dozen times, including organizing delegations of academics and members of Congress.

]]>2012-11-10T23:16:01+00:00Joe Garcia wins US House seat to represent Miamihttp://havanajournal.com/cuban_americans/entry/joe-garcia-wins-us-house-seat-to-represent-miami/
David Adams | Reuters
A campaign finance scandal may have cost a South Florida Republican his congressional seat and handed victory to his challenger, who will be Miami’s first Cuban-American Democratic representative.
Incumbent David Rivera, a fierce opponent of Cuba’s communist government, was beaten by fellow Cuban-American Joe Garcia in Florida’s 26th District by a margin of 54 percent to 43 percent, according to local media, which cited preliminary results from elections officials.
Rivera, a one-term congressman, was backed by fellow Cuban-American Republicans, including rising political star Senator Marco Rubio and veteran Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In a bizarre twist, Rivera allegedly tried to interfere in August’s Democratic primary by funneling at least $40,000 in cash to the campaign of Justin Sternad, a virtually unknown candidate running against Garcia, according to Hugh Cochran and John Borrero, who worked on the Sternad campaign.
The money went to pay for campaign mailings backing Sternad, a hotel worker making his first bid for public office, Cochran and Borrero said.
Rivera denied he had anything to do with Sternad’s campaign.
“Republicans and Democrats, we need to compromise, yes compromise,” Garcia told a victory party. “We need to put politics and rhetoric aside and focus on what really matters.”
Garcia, a former Department of Energy official, is also a tough critic of Cuba’s government though he supports the Obama administration’s moderate policy of “people-to-people” exchanges, including cultural visits and unrestricted travel for Cuban exile families.
——————————Havana Journal Comments——————————
This Republican from Massachusetts would like to congratulate Joe Garcia and I wish him well. Let’s hope he can be some balance against the far right Reps from South Florida.Cuban American PoliticsDavid Adams | Reuters

A campaign finance scandal may have cost a South Florida Republican his congressional seat and handed victory to his challenger, who will be Miami’s first Cuban-American Democratic representative.

Incumbent David Rivera, a fierce opponent of Cuba’s communist government, was beaten by fellow Cuban-American Joe Garcia in Florida’s 26th District by a margin of 54 percent to 43 percent, according to local media, which cited preliminary results from elections officials.

Rivera, a one-term congressman, was backed by fellow Cuban-American Republicans, including rising political star Senator Marco Rubio and veteran Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

In a bizarre twist, Rivera allegedly tried to interfere in August’s Democratic primary by funneling at least $40,000 in cash to the campaign of Justin Sternad, a virtually unknown candidate running against Garcia, according to Hugh Cochran and John Borrero, who worked on the Sternad campaign.

The money went to pay for campaign mailings backing Sternad, a hotel worker making his first bid for public office, Cochran and Borrero said.

Rivera denied he had anything to do with Sternad’s campaign.

“Republicans and Democrats, we need to compromise, yes compromise,” Garcia told a victory party. “We need to put politics and rhetoric aside and focus on what really matters.”

Garcia, a former Department of Energy official, is also a tough critic of Cuba’s government though he supports the Obama administration’s moderate policy of “people-to-people” exchanges, including cultural visits and unrestricted travel for Cuban exile families.

——————————Havana Journal Comments——————————

This Republican from Massachusetts would like to congratulate Joe Garcia and I wish him well. Let’s hope he can be some balance against the far right Reps from South Florida.

]]>2012-11-07T15:21:01+00:00Mark Ryan and the Cuban Embargo - commentaryhttp://havanajournal.com/cuban_americans/entry/mark-ryan-and-the-cuban-embargo-commentary/
Original title: Ryan Criticizes Obama’s Cuba Policy and Explains His Shift on the Issue By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. of New York Times
Havana Journal publisher comments in bold below. I am a Massachusetts Republican. I support the Romney/Ryan ticket and will be voting for them in November. I voted for Obama in 2008 but he has failed in so many ways, there is no reason to keep him in office for four more years.
On a morning intended to reassure hard-line anti-Castro voters, who are a powerful force in South Florida Republican politics, Representative Paul D. Ryan made a pilgrimage to a restaurant here at the heart of the Cuban exile community in Little Havana. Part of the reason: to criticize what he called President Obama’s “appeasement” of the Cuban government. Appeasement? Really? How about calling it “allowing Americans to have the freedom travel anywhere in the world”?
But the visit was also intended to do some fence-mending of his own: as a young congressman from a largely rural Wisconsin district, Mr. Ryan, now Mitt Romney’s 42-year-old vice-presidential running mate, supported ending the trade embargo with Cuba, an unpopular sentiment among many Republicans and Cuban exiles in this part of Florida, one of the most crucial swing states in the general election.
“If we think engagement works well with China, well, it ought to work well with Cuba,” Mr. Ryan had said a decade ago in an interview with The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The embargo doesn’t work. It is a failed policy,” he said, adding that while many Cuban-Americans were passionate in their support of the embargo, “I just don’t agree with them and never have.” And I don’t think he really agrees with them now. Ryan is a fact guy… a practical guy. A few dummies in Miami are not going to convince Ryan that the failed Plan A Embargo is working or will ever work.
And so on Saturday morning, Mr. Ryan appeared alongside a powerhouse lineup of Florida Republicans including former Gov. Jeb Bush at the restaurant Versailles, long famous as a gathering place for the anti-Castro movement.
There, in front of a cheering crowd and with particularly intense endorsement from former Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, idiot Mr. Ryan made the case that his understanding of Cuba had evolved under long tutelage from Republican House members from South Florida, including Mr. Diaz-Balart and his younger brother Mario, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, now the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman, who have also endorsed him. and I’m sure given money to the Romney campaign AND pressured him to all of the sudden be pro-Embargo/anti-American.
In a separate local television interview, Mr. Ryan also explained how he had come to change his mind and since 2007 has supported the embargo.
“You learn from friendships,” read pressure to conform Mr. Ryan told the crowd at Versailles, explaining that his Florida friends in Congress had shown him “just how brutal the Castro regime is, just how this president’s policy of appeasement is not working.” The President’s policy of “appeasement” is not supposed to “work”. It is designed to let the American people have the freedom to travel NOT to destabilize the Cuban government in some way.
Mr. Ryan argues that the Obama administration has been too willing to engage with Cuba Really? How has he engaged Castro at all? and has made it too easy to travel back and forth and send money to Havana from the United States. He vowed that a Romney-Ryan administration would be “tough on Castro” as well as on Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan leader. You want to be tough on Castro? Stop sending ALL remittances to Cuba and don’t allow ANY Cuban Americans to travel to Cuba for any reason. THAT’S an Embargo. Of course the rabid idealists Diaz-Balarts and Ros-Lehtinen’s of the world would not allow for THOSE restrictions.
An aide said Mr. Ryan’s evolution was not hard to understand: when he began in Congress he considered the issue primarily through the prism of constituents in southern Wisconsin who worried about export markets for agricultural products. FACTS But gradually, the aide said, Mr. Ryan’s views evolved to consider more heavily the embargo’s national security implications, LIES and that he has explicitly supported the embargo for the past five years.
An Obama campaign official took strong issue with Mr. Ryan’s characterization of the administration’s Cuba policy, saying that Mr. Obama “has repeatedly renewed the trade embargo with Cuba, pressured the Castro regime to give its people more of a say in their own future, and supported democracy movements on the island.” That’s true.
The official also said that the administration had “put in place common-sense, family-based reforms that allow Cuban-Americans to visit their family members still living in Cuba.” Also true.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERECuban American PoliticsOriginal title: Ryan Criticizes Obama’s Cuba Policy and Explains His Shift on the Issue By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. of New York Times

Havana Journal publisher comments in bold below. I am a Massachusetts Republican. I support the Romney/Ryan ticket and will be voting for them in November. I voted for Obama in 2008 but he has failed in so many ways, there is no reason to keep him in office for four more years.

On a morning intended to reassure hard-line anti-Castro voters, who are a powerful force in South Florida Republican politics, Representative Paul D. Ryan made a pilgrimage to a restaurant here at the heart of the Cuban exile community in Little Havana. Part of the reason: to criticize what he called President Obama’s “appeasement” of the Cuban government. Appeasement? Really? How about calling it “allowing Americans to have the freedom travel anywhere in the world”?

But the visit was also intended to do some fence-mending of his own: as a young congressman from a largely rural Wisconsin district, Mr. Ryan, now Mitt Romney’s 42-year-old vice-presidential running mate, supported ending the trade embargo with Cuba, an unpopular sentiment among many Republicans and Cuban exiles in this part of Florida, one of the most crucial swing states in the general election.

“If we think engagement works well with China, well, it ought to work well with Cuba,” Mr. Ryan had said a decade ago in an interview with The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The embargo doesn’t work. It is a failed policy,” he said, adding that while many Cuban-Americans were passionate in their support of the embargo, “I just don’t agree with them and never have.” And I don’t think he really agrees with them now. Ryan is a fact guy… a practical guy. A few dummies in Miami are not going to convince Ryan that the failed Plan A Embargo is working or will ever work.

And so on Saturday morning, Mr. Ryan appeared alongside a powerhouse lineup of Florida Republicans including former Gov. Jeb Bush at the restaurant Versailles, long famous as a gathering place for the anti-Castro movement.

There, in front of a cheering crowd and with particularly intense endorsement from former Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, idiot Mr. Ryan made the case that his understanding of Cuba had evolved under long tutelage from Republican House members from South Florida, including Mr. Diaz-Balart and his younger brother Mario, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, now the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman, who have also endorsed him. and I’m sure given money to the Romney campaign AND pressured him to all of the sudden be pro-Embargo/anti-American.

In a separate local television interview, Mr. Ryan also explained how he had come to change his mind and since 2007 has supported the embargo.

“You learn from friendships,” read pressure to conform Mr. Ryan told the crowd at Versailles, explaining that his Florida friends in Congress had shown him “just how brutal the Castro regime is, just how this president’s policy of appeasement is not working.” The President’s policy of “appeasement” is not supposed to “work”. It is designed to let the American people have the freedom to travel NOT to destabilize the Cuban government in some way.

Mr. Ryan argues that the Obama administration has been too willing to engage with Cuba Really? How has he engaged Castro at all? and has made it too easy to travel back and forth and send money to Havana from the United States. He vowed that a Romney-Ryan administration would be “tough on Castro” as well as on Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan leader. You want to be tough on Castro? Stop sending ALL remittances to Cuba and don’t allow ANY Cuban Americans to travel to Cuba for any reason. THAT’S an Embargo. Of course the rabid idealists Diaz-Balarts and Ros-Lehtinen’s of the world would not allow for THOSE restrictions.

An aide said Mr. Ryan’s evolution was not hard to understand: when he began in Congress he considered the issue primarily through the prism of constituents in southern Wisconsin who worried about export markets for agricultural products. FACTS But gradually, the aide said, Mr. Ryan’s views evolved to consider more heavily the embargo’s national security implications, LIES and that he has explicitly supported the embargo for the past five years.

An Obama campaign official took strong issue with Mr. Ryan’s characterization of the administration’s Cuba policy, saying that Mr. Obama “has repeatedly renewed the trade embargo with Cuba, pressured the Castro regime to give its people more of a say in their own future, and supported democracy movements on the island.” That’s true.

The official also said that the administration had “put in place common-sense, family-based reforms that allow Cuban-Americans to visit their family members still living in Cuba.” Also true.

]]>2012-09-23T13:46:18+00:00Little Havana is cool with Viernes Culturaleshttp://havanajournal.com/cuban_americans/entry/little-havana-is-cool-with-viernes-culturales/
By Carlos Suarez De Jesus | Miami New Times
The plaintive wail of a bolero crooner echoes across a dusty sidewalk baked by a merciless sun. Soon the ringing chords of a Spanish guitar erupt from a Little Havana souvenir shop. Dominoes clack as they are shoved about by elderly men smoking cigars, and throngs of Midwestern, European, and Asian tourists scramble out of a double-decker bus.
It’s a scene that takes place several times a day along a stretch of Calle Ocho between 17th and 13th avenues, where a collection of artists’ studios, fine art galleries, cigar shops, dollar stores, botanicas, and restaurants draws people eager to immerse themselves in the historic neighborhood’s exotic vibe. They weave in and out of local shops for a shot of café cubano, a box of freshly hand-rolled stogies, or an occasional work of art.
Inside the new Futurama Building, at 1637 SW Eighth St., business is booming because of Viernes Culturales (the cultural block party held in the area the last Friday of each month) and the bustling tourist trade, says local artist Katey Penner.
Futurama is a cool shelter from the blistering heat, where a soaring glass waterfall greets visitors next to a curling staircase and a cascade of glistening lights.
More information
Futurama building
1637 SW 8th St.
Miami, FL 33135
Viernes Culturales is from 7 to 11 pm this Friday, August 31.
The next events are scheduled for September 28, October 26, November 30 and December 28
For more information call 305-643-5500 or
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERECuban American CultureBy Carlos Suarez De Jesus | Miami New Times

The plaintive wail of a bolero crooner echoes across a dusty sidewalk baked by a merciless sun. Soon the ringing chords of a Spanish guitar erupt from a Little Havana souvenir shop. Dominoes clack as they are shoved about by elderly men smoking cigars, and throngs of Midwestern, European, and Asian tourists scramble out of a double-decker bus.

It’s a scene that takes place several times a day along a stretch of Calle Ocho between 17th and 13th avenues, where a collection of artists’ studios, fine art galleries, cigar shops, dollar stores, botanicas, and restaurants draws people eager to immerse themselves in the historic neighborhood’s exotic vibe. They weave in and out of local shops for a shot of café cubano, a box of freshly hand-rolled stogies, or an occasional work of art.

Inside the new Futurama Building, at 1637 SW Eighth St., business is booming because of Viernes Culturales (the cultural block party held in the area the last Friday of each month) and the bustling tourist trade, says local artist Katey Penner.

Futurama is a cool shelter from the blistering heat, where a soaring glass waterfall greets visitors next to a curling staircase and a cascade of glistening lights.

More information

Futurama building
1637 SW 8th St.
Miami, FL 33135

Viernes Culturales is from 7 to 11 pm this Friday, August 31.

The next events are scheduled for September 28, October 26, November 30 and December 28

]]>2012-08-28T14:45:42+00:00Latin Phone ofrece llamada a Cuba y regargas de celulareshttp://havanajournal.com/cuban_americans/entry/latin-phone-ofrece-llamada-a-cuba-y-regargas-de-celulares/
Havana Journal le da la Bienvenida a su nuevo anunciante, LATIN PHONE. (For English, please see below)
(800) 390-1030
LATIN PHONE fue creada en 2004 por un grupo de jóvenes emprendedores para ofrecer precios accesibles en servicio internacional de Telefonía de larga distancia a las Comunidades Latinas en Estados Unidos.
Click here to visit the website.
Havana Journal would like to welcome its newest advertiser, Latin Phone.
Latin Phone was created in 2004 by a group of young entrepreneurs to offer affordable rates in international long distance telephone service to latin communities in the United States.
The company’s mission is to provide the Hispanic community residing in the United States with an international telephone service of excellent quality and competitive rates.
With a combination of constantly updated technology and the most advanced VoIP communications, Latin Phone has developed a global telecommunications network serving over 750,000 clients.
Their network is securely located at the prestigious NAP of the Americas run by Terramark in Miami.
Due to recent changes in Cuba easing regulations on cellular phones and US government easing restrictions on US based telephone companies, Latin Phone is leading the way investing resources to serve the telecommunications needs of the Cuban American community and those with close friends in Cuba.
Latin Phone offers “pinless” long distance calls to Cuba with promotional rates starting at $0.59 cents per minute to Cuba. They also offer calling cards and Cuban cell phone top up services. The company operates call centers in Buenos Aires and Bogota that provide personalized customer service and cell phone recharges 24/7 in Spanish, English and Portuguese.
Latin Phone Services
Prepaid Long Distance
Whether you are calling a home phone in Guantanamo or a cell phone in Havana, you pay $.79 per minute. There are no PIN numbers required and you do not have to memorize any account numbers.
International phone calls - does not require PIN dial or remembering account numbers
Works from your cell phone or fixed line phone
Your minutes never expire
No hidden fees or maintenance costs
Unsurpassed call quality
The best market rates
Recharge your account in seconds, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day
Customer service 7 days a week in Spanish
Calling Cards
Phone cards are new and free of charge
No maintenance fees
No connection fees
No expiration date
Unsurpassed call quality
Customer Service 7 days in Spanish
Adding Minutes to Cell Phones in Cuba
Charge your phone with relatives or friends in Cuba from the United States. Let your friends and family know that you care by recharging their cell phone today with minutes.
It’s easy, fast and secure to add minutes to cell phones in Cuba. Simply call the customer service number at 800-390-1030 and tell them how much money/minutes you want to credit and to which phone and your friends and family will instantly have their cell phones recharged in Cuba.Cuban American CultureHavana Journal le da la Bienvenida a su nuevo anunciante, LATIN PHONE. (For English, please see below)

Havana Journal would like to welcome its newest advertiser, Latin Phone.

Latin Phone was created in 2004 by a group of young entrepreneurs to offer affordable rates in international long distance telephone service to latin communities in the United States.

The company’s mission is to provide the Hispanic community residing in the United States with an international telephone service of excellent quality and competitive rates.

With a combination of constantly updated technology and the most advanced VoIP communications, Latin Phone has developed a global telecommunications network serving over 750,000 clients.

Their network is securely located at the prestigious NAP of the Americas run by Terramark in Miami.

Due to recent changes in Cuba easing regulations on cellular phones and US government easing restrictions on US based telephone companies, Latin Phone is leading the way investing resources to serve the telecommunications needs of the Cuban American community and those with close friends in Cuba.

Latin Phone offers “pinless” long distance calls to Cuba with promotional rates starting at $0.59 cents per minute to Cuba. They also offer calling cards and Cuban cell phone top up services. The company operates call centers in Buenos Aires and Bogota that provide personalized customer service and cell phone recharges 24/7 in Spanish, English and Portuguese.

Whether you are calling a home phone in Guantanamo or a cell phone in Havana, you pay $.79 per minute. There are no PIN numbers required and you do not have to memorize any account numbers.

International phone calls - does not require PIN dial or remembering account numbers
Works from your cell phone or fixed line phone
Your minutes never expire
No hidden fees or maintenance costs
Unsurpassed call quality
The best market rates
Recharge your account in seconds, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day
Customer service 7 days a week in Spanish

Charge your phone with relatives or friends in Cuba from the United States. Let your friends and family know that you care by recharging their cell phone today with minutes.

It’s easy, fast and secure to add minutes to cell phones in Cuba. Simply call the customer service number at 800-390-1030 and tell them how much money/minutes you want to credit and to which phone and your friends and family will instantly have their cell phones recharged in Cuba.